The news continues on aljazeera but first lets turn over to the stream. Facing reality growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place the socalled secret city getting to the heart of the matter the mean maher government calls you a gringo terrorist hear their story on the talk to how dizzying at this time. I am family ok with millie kapow who is in park city utah we are wrapping up our coverage of this years Sundance Film Festival now that. I think. I am here alongside filmmaker. And indigenous activist and. Youre so right now you are live in the stream. And remember that if you want to add a comment you can do so live or we will try and get that comment right into this show. Scientists from West Virginia i just moved to Silicon Valley and im in the. Movement against construction of a multibillion dollar pipeline across native american territories last year spots. Indigenous peoples and civil rights activists and the battle of Standing Rock we get to see up close the stories of those who gathered in the u. S. State of north dakota to say no to the Dakota Access pipeline have a look. Or in a dream. On. Their way my spiritual teacher was. In this dream. We were walking through. As we walked through this is all the. If there was. There was clearly. There were. There and. I would. And i asked him is this so power. We have the power or are we. Where are what is. So over the next day i will go but i would too theres a way that. You know i asked him his thoughts on that. And he had no answer for me. Many activists known as water protectors were hospitalized over the course of the demonstrations injured by Police Officials trying to disperse crowds us federal courts repeatedly denied requests to suspend the project now in operation following an order last january from President Donald Trump to expedite its completion a number of war to protect his were prosecuted for the actions and in the six months since the pipeline has leaked multiple times helping us to unpack the legacy of Standing Rock and joining us via skype in tucson arizona we have gentleman a shes a native american journalist who writes about Indigenous Affairs around the world she also covered the standing weve been for Indian Country but were going to start a conversation with many whos in pot city thanks to me. You are the director of the battle of Standing Rock and this is been billed as the only native made film about the uprising of Standing Rock tell us how it even came to be. Well i was actually already in north dakota working on another production and when i heard about what was going on over a stone rock just said basically just dropped me off over there and so i got dropped off over there and i had run into a couple relatives a couple cousins and some friends that were already there in camp so i kind of just fell right into camp and i had my laptop in my camera with me so. I just i just started doing these little small little bit clips because i wanted to help to spread the message and get the word out and raise awareness about what was going on there and after i was there for about a week i actually got hit up by sundance and by the Redford Center and they actually asked me if i had heard anything about center rock and i was like yeah im actually here right now and theyre like what do you do nice making these little clips and they were like well can we see them and i said sure so i sent them to them and they were like well these are great coming across our networks and i said yeah. So audience im going to take a pause there because they may not know the significance of this but theyre ready for it center and the people behind the throne possible dont often just go to people and say we want you. Yet that was. The thing and so so after about a week went by we got millions of views on those clips that they that they posted for us and after about a week went by they came back and i said hey do you want to do a feature documentary out there and i was like no no because you know i want to do these little clips and i want to fight and i knew if i was tied down to a feature length documentary i wouldnt be able to release all those clips i would actually have to hold on to the footage through the whole time and so i said no and then some people started bringing it to my attention theyre like you know they dont normally reach out like. And then they kept reaching out to me and they were trying to stress the fact that there was you know all these other filmmakers that are going to be coming out of these nonnative filmmakers and they want to they wanted to make sure there was a least one you know native film crew on the ground telling the story from the inside and it started to register in my head and then i see did. Nonnative filmmakers are all trying to tell a story that was just cameras everywhere all across camp in tonight i just sort of came there to the room realization that this was a massive responsibility actually. And now youre here in park city at the Sundance Film Festival and were sitting next to two protagonists in your documentary why them how did how did you go about picking the people that are. In a thinking about how to frame this story of Standing Rock it was like Standing Rock became this sort of. Worldwide known like thing that was going on and people to start of flocking there just to come there and take selfies and to say that they were there and to camp and to hang out and they werent actually there to actually stop. And that would have been so easy just to pick one of those characters because theyre like a camera follow me around you know but i really wanted to find a character who actually had something to do with fighting and stopping that according access pipeline and this was a difficult task because a lot of these people you know they didnt really want cameras following them around who are under constant f. B. I. Surveillance. And so i was kind of difficult but then through time you know you had to earn trust and respect in. Yeah. Thats kind of how i got to some of these characters yes. So there was a lot of cameras you know i mean. There would be days where a lot of people would be marching and shutting down construction and you have all these people nonnative people just in your face you know with cameras in this just like youre already in a high intense situation and so we actually started just kicking away people that were just really annoying you know and they were just trying to profit off of what were doing and trying to benefit and push their own content without actually consulting us but after a while you start to see the same people showing up over and over and you you know youre like whos that guy you know i mean you get the trust them yet the. I mean i have a i actually have a question for cody really because of the great risk that was involved my First Encounter with cody lee such that director was what did he. Really kind of taking on a very combat style role with his camera as d. S. O. Lair and just days before what we call the treaty camp raid which was not till the twenty seventh two thousand and sixteen and i saw him in this very kind of covert kind of way with his camera going to get some shots that. Could be really telling and part of this narrative cody id just like to know you know what kind of risk did you feel like you were you were facing under this kind of militarized threat. I mean there was always bullets whizzing by there was always going to sound cannons mace tear gas i mean i was i was tear gassed a couple dozen times may strictly by those mace cannons maybe five times i was shot with rubber bullets so there was always there was always that. And there was there was also always this sort of like you know being the only native film out there and this huge conversation going on about about natives taking back control of the narrative its just its sort of came conversation at this time also so there was a lot of weight on my shoulders as far as like telling the story properly you know because i think the narrative has has been for so long is that the reason why natives want to tell their own stories. To tell them is because theyre not as good of filmmakers you know that the nonnatives are better thats why they get the big budgets all these all these big hollywood movies. So there was there was a lot of weight on my shoulders beyond just the bullets whizzing by. You know and i mean there was like like for example. Camping you know and so i dug a little hole in the backside. Every day. And then like i was talking about before just being able to film these characters who were actually doing something out there. You know they didnt want cameras follow them around you know i mean not only. Not only did you want cameras around. Those a couple requests from to. Record some of our planning sessions no. Really incriminating. Opens up a whole legal liability and. There was there was a lot of strategizing there was a lot of talking. But i think. Part of what happened what could have passed. I want to show our audience a little clip where you. Welcoming some well known celebrities into the act have a look at this this morning they actually showed up in force to shut down the blockade and warn that the camp is going to be. Raided mark ruffalo Jesse Jackson who showed up i dont want to. Pull for the rest of the reverend Jesse Jackson its scary to see people with guns on a public road. Where people are doing is gathering theres no weaponry over there theres nothing of violence where we live this cant be america. This is film that was fake you just know you saw it. Some other able to scramble it like Text Messages and calls are being monitored by some dark dark dark stuff going on. Well when i see from your input into this film is that you are cutting a war theyre scum machines there are battles there are conflicts but i didnt quite see standing well as that until we went right inside what is the story that only this film is telling that we havent seen from all the filmmakers and from all the journalists. I think the i think this is like a lesson on how movements work movements dont work. A path towards victory and how movements sometimes sabotage themselves very simply what we needed to do for victory is to continuously go out our enemies of the Energy Transfer partners who is building the code axis pipeline and it shows a lot of our struggles in our conflict that not just necessarily outside forces its almost as if the the militarized police in the mercenaries were a force of nature that we were ready to fight that we were ready to combat that we were ready to outflank and out smart but ultimately are defeated by our internal struggles. I have i think yesterday its kind of can put can i put this to johnny this is coming alive coming on you tube so watching this program on you tube rim says it doesnt matter how much the people protest the powers that be will always just sweep them aside thats a legacy question the impact astounding luck but i think yeah that really what i think most profound about the clip that was just displayed here because it really gets at the heart of the actual absence that was felt at Standing Rock at a most critical hour that footage came on the eve of what i had mentioned before was is this militarized raid what was known as the treaty camp and the intensity was high the scrambling of all the digital equipment that was recorded by the Indigenous Peoples themselves there was really actually no media on the scene and i think that that is another strong narrative that i dont think weve come to really discuss as much is the importance that that social media played in this movement and how it really was a galvanizing force around the world. I want to bring up this tweet here we got from someone named m. D. M. Viewpoint thats their hand and yes i know you want to get in there so ill direct this to you they write i would say that the no doubt will struggle of course thats that hashtag. Access pipeline is best viewed within the context of defending sovereignty and the right to defend the water and land not necessarily a civil rights issue so this was about sovereignty people said do you think it was framed in that way and do you think that that this film helped change that framing. Will for a lot of people that i was there with from the beginning to the end we werent there in thinking about civil rights or you know a big part of it was treaty treaty rights were being violated as they always have been but it was about the water you know were all downstream it was a human rights issue you know we were fighting other people to fight for their their those people so i think that was one of the biggest things that was kind consistently like spoken about between our own circles is that were here for the water at the end of the day. And that thought is actually backed up again by you cheaper see drake saying this is about water rights not a need for gas clean water and a Clean Environment is the right of people say you know i really want to get your take on this about the movement the standing movement the lobby role but also again watching the show the occupy movement and know the apple resistance both represent the effectiveness of frontline kept minutes unpredictable at. Fluidity in action implementation tactics this is walt Standing Rock has given the world a great and i was very articulately said and i agree i think for us from pine ridge. Reservation my family and most of my tribe drink the water that south Standing Rock in south of the Dakota Access pipeline we came up there to fight for our survival and primarily it. Other people have many opinions about this but it comes back to reiterate what yas just said was it comes back to water we came up there to fight to protect the water continuously and always thats the heart of the struggle and there you can so but treaties we can part incorporate issues are on sovereignty and correcting the injustices of the past but primarily this was a spiting for our existence for our survival and the right to have clean water so when you talk about this it doesnt add a fig and that got any good to me now i think i would also just add that i think that you know while this you know may have just been one tribes fight for clean Drinking Water and to honor the treaties it was emblematic of whats been happening around the indigenous world for generations this collusion of Government Forces and militarized policing i mean as we heard throughout the movement in iraq it became still much more than just a pipeline and thats why in popular view Standing Rock is being seen as the greatest indigenous let movement of our modern times and im wondering with that kind of weight what these filmmakers feel like as this becomes a work in progress what kind of mark this needs to make because it is such. A token of a historical record. Yes. I mean ultimately when making this movie we were making it for the native community for the Indigenous Peoples in mind. We knew that it would be you know that other non native watch other non that is would like it but it was specifically being made for the Indigenous People and its because our generation we were all inspired by the same generation American Indian movement the generation of our parents and our uncles and. Aunties and dad has allowed us to be able to do what were doing today were sort of building upon what they laid down for us and so in this movie where showing what were doing now in this generation and so hopefully this film can help inspire the next generation the nine ten eleven twelve year olds right now who watch us and be like those guys are cool you know theyre out there fighting for our land and our water locking down you know scouting point over maps in the middle of the night you know so hopefully thats the thats the ultimate goal for this is to be able to help in inspiring the next generation that might already be happening and we got this tweet from them or on twitter she says its very important to discuss the significance of indigenous films participation at the Sundance Film Festival and of course this being one of them there actually eight indigenous led films here this year but i want to show this week from the Redford Center because this happened at the premier on wednesday reppert Center Rights wed like to share this moving scene from yesterday from yesterdays film premiere when Standing Rock water protectors featured in the film joined the filmmakers onstage in song have a listen. To her. They write thank you to water protectors everywhere for enjoying these fights and filling us all with hope cody what did that moment mean for you. Right there we all walked up on stage and. It was. To be filming all these water protectors and living with them and fighting with them and to be able to show this movie to them for the first time and bring them up on stage so its not just me during the q. And a were actually opening up to the audience who can ask any any one of them question that they want to know i think. Because because i did what i set out to do and im able to share this with everybody who was involved in not just trying to be like me me me me you know but try to bring everybody up there also so that they have a chance to talk and people have a chance to talk with. Mark theres a moment in the film where you are welcoming some veteran they are veterans who stand for Standing Rock there are thousands of people at the camp and they also are thinking that maybe maybe something could actually happen and you could achieve you have a look at the. Thousands and thousands of people come throughout the c